All of the Upper Great Lakes states continue to see wetland losses despite laws designed to protect them, and this new MN study confirms the problem.
Federal and state laws intended to protect wetlands in Minnesota often don't work properly, resulting in the continued loss of these ecologically valuable swamps and marshes, a prominent environmental organization charged Wednesday.
The reason? A byzantine and bewildering set of protections rife with loopholes and exemptions, inadequate enforcement and outdated and mismatched regulations, according to a report to be released today.
"You put all of those together and you've got a regulatory framework for wetlands that isn't working as intended,'' said Janette Brimmer, legal director of the St. Paul-based Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the report's lead author.
http://www.mncenter.org/mcea_wetlands_initiative/files/Wetlands06ExeSum.pdf
Posted by Dave at February 2, 2006 10:47 AM